Photography as an Art and a Business
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 by Patrick RossLike all creative industries, the photography industry is undergoing significant change. Technologies have been of benefit to professional photographers by easing legal distribution and creating new models for licensing, and have helped them to better express themselves in their art. But technologies have also enabled infringement of their works, and have created avenues for less professional work to more effectively compete for those willing to accept “good enough” at a cheaper price.
That said, it was refreshing last week to meet hundreds of professional photographers who are finding their way in this world. I joined two Copyright Alliance colleagues in exhibiting at the PhotoPlus International Conference + Expo in New York City. We didn’t have cool lighting or camera equipment for sale, or nifty software, or a library of books on the art and business of photography; we didn’t have massage chairs or inserts for your shoes to make it easier to walk the massive trade show floor. But we had something many seemed to value; information on why copyright benefits photographers. This is something most photographers understand through practicing their craft and profession, but many were eager to learn more.
And my colleagues and I were eager to learn more about their craft and profession. We are fortunate to have several photography organizations in the Copyright Alliance — the American Society of Media Photographers, the Professional Photographers of America, the Advertising Photographers of America, the Picture Archives Council of America, and the Professional School Photographers Association International. A couple of things to note; most of those organizations are in fact individual member organizations of photographers, and all of them are working closely with their international counterparts, so don’t let the “America” in most of their names fool you.
The threats to traditional business models in photography are real, including massive online infringement. I spoke with hundreds of photographers last week, and everyone had their own story of how one of their works had been infringed (“right-clicked” was a term I heard a lot) and it was often a significant amount of time before they learned of the infringement. They wondered how many infringements they had suffered and will never know about. Usually the infringement involved appearing on another web site, but often the photos were used for promotional or marketing materials, were being sold on goods, and one actually was startled to drive by one of his photographs on a billboard.
Still, photographers and their distribution partners are adjusting. Many use a range of technologies to both track infringement and encourage infringers to license. Clearly there is still enough income in the industry to support several hundred vendors; walking the show floor made me realize how expansive this world really is.
It wasn’t the first photography trade show I’ve attended and I’ll return to ImagingUSA in January — this job has opened this world to me — but I remain surprised every time I see how much, well, commerce is occurring in this space. We writers don’t really have an infrastructure of this magnitude; we used to buy typewriters, then desktop computers and dot-matrix printers, and now laptops and laser printers, but that’s really about it. We used to spend a lot of money on high-quality paper and padded envelopes, but that has largely gone by the wayside. Let’s face it; no amount of lighting equipment or special software will improve my prose when it’s faulty.
So hat’s off to all of those hard-working, creative photographers out there. Thank you to the many who signed, on the spot, the letter from artists and creators to the President and Vice President.
Oh, and as a veteran of horrible trade-show-floor food, if you’re ever at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, try the Javits salad, with arugula, dried cranberries, pecans and turkey. Yum.
